Legal wrangling consumes most of trial's second day

Legal wrangling between the attorneys outside the presence of the jury consumed most of the second day of the trial underway this week in White County Circuit Court.

The family of the defendant, Dr. Johendra Chhabra, also asked The Times to clarify a point made in an earlier article about the doctor's business in Norris City.

Braden Willis

Legal wrangling between the attorneys outside the presence of the jury consumed most of the second day of the trial underway this week in White County Circuit Court.

The family of the defendant, Dr. Johendra Chhabra, also asked The Times to clarify a point made in an earlier article about the doctor's business in Norris City.

The doctor is accused of improper sexual contact with a then-23-year-old patient in his Norris City office at his doctor's clinic business in late 2011. Chhabra's physician's license has since been suspended pending the outcome of the criminal trial. The Times reported Chhabra's practice "has since shut down," which could be construed to mean the doctor's Norris City clinic has shut down. Instead, it meant only Dr. Chhabra was not actively seeing patients at his clinic, however, health care needs are still being served at the clinic by other health care providers at the clinic, which is owned by Chhabra.

The first witness called by the state Thursday was Illinois State Police Detective Rick White. He was called to the stand just before 11 a.m. after White County State's Attorney Denton Aud and defense counsel, Bryan Drew of Benton, spent the bulk of the morning arguing various technical issues before Judge Mark Stanley.

The judge, upon seating the jury, told them not to read too much into the delay, saying only there were some "technical issues" beyond the court's control that caused the delay.

White testified he was contacted by White County Sheriff's Sgt. Craig Poole who asked him to meet him at Doug's Convenience Mart in Norris City where the alleged victim had spotted the sergeant and made the allegations against Chhabra.

White said he met with the woman at Doug's then arranged a videotaped interview with her at the Guardian Center in Carmi. White identified photos presented by Aud as photos he took depicting an injury to the woman's lip and a minor abrasion on her back. White noted a prominent tattoo on her lower back.

He testified she was crying and upset and alleged Chhabra had told her to wait in his office for a prescription for Adderall, to treat her symptoms of ADHD.

She alleged to White the doctor had entered the office, locked the door and bent her over a desk where he pulled her hair, sucked on her lip and ran his hand down the front of her pants, making contact with her genitalia.

White said the woman alleged the doctor had pulled a clump of her hair from her head and it had dropped to the floor during the alleged brief attack, which she said ended when the two made eye contact.

White testified he obtained a search warrant for Chhabra's office to retrieve the hair then he and other officers went to the Norris City clinic to find the hair.

He said the "clump" of hair was located in Chhabra's office and Chhabra consented to a non-custodial interview in his office. This interview became a central point of the rest of the day.

White alleged Chhabra had said during this interview, "I made an *** out of myself today." White alleged Chhabra said he had contact of a "hugging and kissing" nature when he was with the woman in his office. He said he was remorseful about the contact because he is married and should not have had contact in that way.

White testified Chhabra had locked the door because he anticipated receiving "hugs and kisses" from the woman. He denied pulling the woman's hair or fondling her below the waist. White said he asked the doctor if he had changed the prescription at this point to include a pain killer.

Chhabra allegedly told White he did add a pain killer because the woman had complained of back pain. He said he had observed the woman's back when she had raised her shirt to show him where she was hurt. He said there was no obvious external injury and he did not see a tattoo.

Defense counsel made several jabs at White's allegations and his testimony about "hugs and kisses" became a central point of contention.

The jury is not allowed to hear, because of a pre-trial defense motion that was granted by the judge, about a prior romantic relationship between the alleged victim and Chhabra. Drew attempted to solicit some of this information from White but after a lengthy and somewhat heated sidebar, the judge sustained an objection by Aud concerning the line of questioning.

Later in the day, outside the presence of the jury, Drew argued before the court that the statement made by White that Chhabra had anticipated "hugs and kisses" left the jury to draw an incriminating conclusion about the statement, when, in fact, what Chhabra had told the investigators was he anticipated "MORE hugs and kisses," which puts his motive for locking the door behind him in a different light.

Ultimately, the judge ruled the defense had asked for and received the order for witnesses not to discuss the prior relationship and could not now change their mind and use it at the convenience of the defense.

Drew also raised another point before the jury during the cross examination of White. He reminded White he had testified that the alleged victim was crying on the videotape. Drew asked if he also remembered the woman was laughing at some points during the interview. White said he didn't recall the woman laughing.

Drew then quoted from a transcript of the videotaped interview and alleged she had laughed about Chhabra having a "towel" on his head, which was a slur directed at Chhabra's turban.

Aud objected to the questioning, calling it inflammatory, but Drew withdrew the question.

The only other witness to testify was Glenn Schubert, a forensic examiner at the Illinois State Police crime lab in Carbondale. He said there were about 25 hairs in the "clump" found in the office and sent to the lab. He said the roots provided evidence the hairs were forcibly removed from the head of a human Caucasian. He also said during cross examination the hairs were not removed by brushing or by tweezers.

Drew asked if the trace evidence could reveal who pulled the hair out of the head, and he said it did not, obviously trying to implicate the woman as being the one who pulled the hair out. It was the second time Drew had made that implication, the first being when White was on the stand. Drew asked White if he remembered the woman reminding him on several occasions to be sure and find the hair in the office.

The defense stipulated the state's last witness of the day, a DNA examiner from the ISP crime lab, would testify that she tested the hair and it did belong to the alleged victim.

The state was unable to call its last witness, stating the witness had fallen ill and was unable to be in court Thursday. The judge called a recess around 2 p.m. with the state expected to call its last witness Friday morning (today) to be followed by the defense's witnesses.

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